About

Steamroller Studios is a full service production house with a family friendly atmosphere. Our personal backgrounds are in film, having worked on such titles as Avatar, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and The Hobbit Trilogy. Our studio offers animation, programming, concept art, and more. We have worked on projects such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, Worms W.M.D., Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Prey, Agents of Mayhem and many others, including our own original IP, Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse.

History

A LETTER FROM OUR FOUNDER

Steamroller Studios started with nothing more than a sparkle in my eye. It was 2008 and Apple had just blown the barrier of entry away for game development. Never before did the prospect of making a game seem so attainable. Now keep in mind, this was before the rise of the indies. It was like the wild west, with aspiring game developers everywhere trying to make it big. I’m an illustrator/designer by trade, but with no formal training in game development (other than playing games from Atari through PlayStation.) I didn’t really consider game development as a realistic career path. Around the same time, I got the awesome news that I was going to be a father, but of course that meant my window for risk taking was closing quickly.

I decided to act and gave my childhood friend Keith Lackey a call to see if he was interested in working together on a game for the app store. We started our first business together at 16 when we would cut all our neighbor’s lawns. So, I knew I worked well with him, but I also really needed a programmer. When I called, I believe I said something like… “Hey bro, let’s make a game together!” to which he responded with roarous laughter. After all, at the time he was one of WETA Digitals best programmers. Not a job you give up lightly. But what he didn’t realize, was that day a seed was planted. A few months later he called me back and pitched a game idea he had. 8 months later we released our first game, “Super Shock Football.”

About that same time, we got the attention of Keith’s coworker, Jalil Sadool. He and Keith had met on Avatar and discovered through some side projects of their own that they both had a strong work ethic. He asked if he could work with us on something, and it just so happened that our next game “Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse” was in dire need of some animation. Something Jalil knew a little bit about. So, he joined us and our partnership duo became a trinity. Over the next few years we would all continue to work our day jobs. Keith stayed at WETA, Jalil moved on to DreamWorks, and I kept running my design business. But Deadwood was never far from our minds and we would still work on it as often as we could.

Then in the summer of 2014, Keith paid a visit to Jalil over in L.A. He told him that he and I were quitting our jobs to work fulltime on Deadwood. This time Jalil laughed at him. But once again, a seed was planted. A few months later he was moving down to mine and Keith’s hometown of Eustis, Fl to officially start Steamroller Studios. Since then we have ramped up production on Deadwood, while also taking on contract work. The three of us have grown to over 20 and counting. It’s been a crazy ride, and I can’t wait to see where it takes us next.

Adam Meyer, Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer

Adam Meyer, Keith Lackey, & Jalil Sadool

ABOUT US

Steamroller Studios is a full service production house with a focus on high-end animation. Our personal backgrounds are in film, having worked on such titles as Avatar, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, How to Train Your Dragon 2, and The Hobbit Trilogy. Our studio offers animation, programming, concept art, and more. We have worked on projects such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, Worms W.M.D., Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, Prey, Agents of Mayhem and many others, including our own original video game, Deadwood: The Forgotten Curse.